The whole experience was a series of unanticipated pleasures. Great food from animals and their parts I had never planned to touch let alone enjoy. Much more developed architecture than I had been led to believe existed there in cities I would have visited with no one but you, and two different peoples where I had expected only two variations on a theme. As the son and brother of teachers learning that you were a teacher explains a lot to me why your tours are so much more that just a group of happy homos seeing the sights. While we did have fun and our escort certainly recharged a number of our hunk fantasies as well as intellectual curiosity, we got a feeling for civilizations beyond just a series of good photo ops. As you mentioned earlier, it was a more expensive and longer trip than usual, but the quality of the hotels (hot boutique to former palace), dining experiences (over the top drag restaurant to patio of a Chateau and Relais resort), and large variety of sites gave full value for the time and money. — Tom B., Washington, DC